


Peace on Earth (Good Wine to Woman)

by GratiaPlena



Category: Holby City
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Exes to Lovers, F/F, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 08:21:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21899632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GratiaPlena/pseuds/GratiaPlena
Summary: AUAfter more than thirty years apart, Serena & Bernie don't know that they are about to meet again at Serena's annual Christmas party.The prompt was: exes to lovers.Ellie lives, Raf lives, Cameron resumed his studies a little later and is engaged to Keeley, Jason hasn't met his future wife yet, Bernie never got hit by an IED and is still in the army. What even is canon? Jingle bells!!!
Relationships: Serena Campbell/Bernie Wolfe
Comments: 11
Kudos: 71
Collections: Berena Secret Santa 2019





	Peace on Earth (Good Wine to Woman)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bitheflowers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitheflowers/gifts).

> Merry Christmas, Bitheflowers!  
Thank you for keeping the Berena spirit alive, both on Tumblr, and on here.  
I hope you'll enjoy the story!
> 
> Santa's most fabulous elf Kooili has worked hard to beta this story. She was an excellent cheerleader too. Thank you so much, Kooili!

_Holby, December 21st 2019_

"Dr. Campbell?"

She finished typing her line, then looked up. Her F1 stood in the doorway of the office. She motioned him in, but he stayed where he was, swallowing nervously.  
"Come on, Cameron, spit it out!" She was in the midst of a management report, and she wanted to finish it before going home tonight.

"Eh...about your Christmas party, tomorrow evening…" he started.

"You don't want to come?" She waved a hand. "Look, it's fine!" She just wanted to get back to the report.

"Eh, no...I want to come. Everyone says it's the best Christmas do!"

She leaned back in her chair. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Mr Dunn", she said sternly, but with a twinkle in her eyes. Because contrary to the saying, flattery usually got one quite far with her. Particularly when it came to her pride and joy: her renowned Christmas party. 

She had been preparing for a month already - deciding on the theme, getting the right decorations, planning the menu. The roster for this weekend was more hotly contested on AAU than Christmas day and she was proud of it! No one wanted to miss out and she was glad that her F1 had picked up on the fact that an invitation to her party was not something to be sniffed at.

She wanted to finish the report, go home and check up on Ellie, who was home for the holidays, and had volunteered to design the food cards to go with the buffet. She impatiently tapped her nails on the desk.

"Well.., about the 'plus one'..." Cameron finally said in a small voice.

Oh, here we go! Serena sat up straight. He recently got engaged, but was very tight-lipped about it. He was bringing a colleague from another floor! No, an elderly lady lover! No, he was coming out of the closet, and was taking his man-fiancé, wasn't he?! What else could he be so nervous about? Serena knew there was something queer about him - takes one to know one, after all. 

No matter, she was going to be nonchalant about it. It wasn’t a big deal. It was 2019! He could bring whomever he wanted! She was going to be calm, and express her happiness for him. She concealed her excitement.

"Eh, um...can I bring my mum?"

One of Serena's eyebrows shot upwards. "Your mum?" That was a disappointment.

"Yeah, she's home for a short while. And I'll be in the Alps with dad for Christmas. They're divorced, and this is the only weekend that…" Cameron explained, his words coming out in a hurried jumble.

"Yes, yes! Fine!" God, she didn't need his entire family history! She waved him out. "Bring your mum or your neighbour's second cousin, for all I care! As long as she sticks to this year's theme."

"Yes, boss." He saluted her, and almost ran off, clearly relieved.

No intrigue. He was just bringing his mum… Oh well. On with the report!

_Holby, December 22nd 2019_

"The first guests!" Ellie shouted from the hallway. "Ooooh, he's alright! I'm opening the door!"

Serena rolled her eyes. She quickly checked the decorations in the living room once more, gave a thumbs up to Jason, and hurried to the kitchen to remove her apron. She straightened her sparkly dress, and took a deep breath. Show time!

"Hello!" She smiled as Cameron stepped into the living room. "Welcome to my humble abode. You are the first guests to arrive. This must be your mother, nice to m..." She froze mid sentence.

The woman that had just walked in mirrored her shocked expression. "Serena?" she asked.

"Bernie?"

Bernie nodded. "Surprise..!" she said weakly.

"Are _you_ Cameron's mum?" Serena walked up to her, and touched her arm, as if to check whether Bernie was real.

"Yah… Uhm. Are _you_ Dr. Campbell?" 

Serena nodded.

"Married name, then?"

"Happily divorced. Kept his name and his fortunes!"

"Good," said Bernie. "Well, I don't mean good. It must have been...But good for you! It becomes you. You look well!"

Serena smiled nervously, and straightened her dress once more. She practically felt Bernie's gaze upon her as if it were a caress.  
"It's so good to see you again, Bernie. You look beautiful, too."

"Thanks...eh…" Bernie shrugged and took a deep breath. "I didn't have any sparkly clothes, eh..for the theme.., so I put glitter in my hair. I hope it's…" 

Serena looked up. There was a deep blush on Bernie's cheeks. There was the familiar sparkle in her eyes, but not a glimmer to be seen in her hair - not in this light, anyway. Serena reached up and tucked a wayward strand of Bernie's hair behind her ear, her hand trailing over Bernie's jaw.

"Ahem!" Cameron coughed loudly.

Serena took a quick step back, and Bernie looked down. An uncomfortable silence fell.

"I'm Jason!" His bright voice cut through the awkwardness, and was accompanied by his bright smile. He held out his hand.

"Hello Jason." Bernie smiled as she shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Berenice Wolfe."

"_Major_ Berenice Wolfe?"

"Lieutenant Colonel now, yes."

"_Auntie Serena's_ Berenice Wolfe?"

"Well… I don't know about that…" Bernie glanced at Serena, who was nervously toying with her necklace.

"Auntie Serena went to school with you, and now she keeps a file with newspaper clippings about you and your regiment, and articles from medical journals that mention you!"

"Yes, alright, Jason!" Serena interrupted.

"Does she?" said Bernie.

"She does!" smiled Jason. "I'm allowed to read through, but I'm not allowed to reorganise someone else's file." 

"Sounds reasonable." Bernie nodded.

"Auntie Serena is usually very reasonable," Jason agreed. 

"Right, Jason, could you…" Serena tried. But Jason was on a roll.

"But whenever you are deployed abroad," he continued to Bernie. "I'm not allowed to speak through the first 10 seconds of the radio news in the morning. She gets unreasonably irritable otherwise."

"Does she?" Bernie asked with a grin, glancing at a brightly blushing Serena.

"She does," confirms Jason. "I think she doesn't get enough deep sleep whenever you are deployed abroad. It makes one irritable not to get enough deep sleep, says Allan."

"Thank you, Ja..."

Serena tried.

"Your hair is much better than Auntie Serena said." 

"Hah!" Bernie laughed.

"Okay, Jason," said Serena. "Okay. Thank you. Please can you check on the cheese snacks in the oven? Now?"

"I'm the sous chef in this house!" Jason proudly announced, as he sped off to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry…" said Serena

"No...no. Is he your son?"

"Nephew. He lives with us. That's Ellie. She's mine." Serena, who hadn't stopped blushing yet, glanced up. "Look, I'm sorry about the...what Jason said."

"No, it's fine," grinned Bernie. "Do you keep files on all of your exes?"

Serena's blush deepened as she shook her head.

"Wow, creepy!" said Elinor, walking over to join the conversation

"It's cute, you being so interested in our troops, these days!" Bernie teased. "Changed your mind about modern defence, then?"

"Don't get me started," warned Serena.

"No," said Bernie in a low voice, peering at Serena from under her fringe. "Wouldn't get you to stop, once you've started, I seem to remember…Anyway." She took a deep breath, and shook her head. Then she held out a wrinkled paper bag, covered in cellotape. "We brought you this."

"Ah, thanks…" Serena unwrapped the gift. "Shiraz! That's a good wine. You know me well! Oh, the doorbell! Excuse me!" Serena squeezed Bernie's arm in passing. "We'll catch up properly later?"

Bernie nodded.

"Exes, eh? I didn't know mum used to have a girlfriend. Cool," said Ellie. "Help yourselves to drinks. I'm going to sort the music out."

As they walked over to the buffet table, Cameron asked tensely: "When were you and her...involved?"

"Before I met your father," said Bernie, and she flinched a little as he visibly relaxed.

"I thought maybe there were others like Alex," he said.

She shook her head. "What can I get you? Wine? Apple juice?" And she busied herself with pouring drinks for a moment.

A group of people walked in, joyfully greeting Cameron, and Bernie was introduced to his colleagues. She was more than a little proud to hear that her son was well liked as a colleague, and that they considered him to be a promising doctor-in-training.

She glanced over to where Serena was welcoming a couple to the party, hugging them both with affection. Her body's memory of Serena hugging her tightly was visceral, and overwhelmed her a moment. She retreated to the back of the room, finding an arm chair to sit in.

The music started, and so did the dancing. Serena swirling amongst her colleagues as she had once done amongst her friends in uni; full of confidence and mirth.

Cameron came up to Bernie with a new glass of Shiraz. "Here," he said, as handed her the glass, and sat in the chair beside her.

They quietly watched the dancing, sipping their wine.

"So…," said Cameron after a while. "You and Dr. Campbell."

"Yeah..."

A new song started, that Bernie recognised as "Last Christmas" by Queen. The crowd cheered, and Ellie turned up the volume as the dancing resumed.

"How did you two meet?" asked Cameron, setting his drink down.

"At a rally against nuclear weapons. She was a flatmate of uncle Eugene, so she joined our group. She was against all warfare. I was only there to protest the politics behind the arms race. We got into a big argument about peacekeeping."

Someone (who was greeted with a roaring "Fleeetch!" from the crowd) walked in, and handed everyone a paper Christmas hat. 

Bernie politely took one, but put it down next to her glass.

"She was a formidable opponent in debate," she continued. "And very sexy when angry. Well, also when happy, let's be fair."

"Ugh..," said Cameron. "What happened? You asked her out, then?"

"No, there wasn't any formal moment like that. I just visited your uncle's flat quite a lot more often than before. She and I both studied Medicine, so we spoke about that. But then we also invariably got into an argument about politics and army related stuff. Every single time. She wouldn't let it go, and neither would I. I think, I originally enlisted just to spite her."

"Wow."

"Yeah. Well, maybe not to spite her, but by debating her, my vision on peacekeeping became quite clear to myself, and it must have motivated me to want to join the cause. Anyway, the other flatmates got so sick of our arguing, that they told us to get a room. So we left them in the communal kitchen, and went to her bedroom. I kissed her in the middle of a tirade. And, well…,"

"Ewww! Mum!" He set down his drink. "Eww, stop! I have to work with her! Were you two together for a long time?"

"A year or so? I can't remember. She threatened to break up, if I really joined the army. I joined, she kept her word. That was that."

They sipped their wine, and watched the crowd. Her eyes drifted over to Serena, dancing with a man. She felt a pang of envy for the stranger, who so casually put his arms around Serena - the easy report between them evident.

"Is she seeing anyone?" Bernie asked, her voice darker than intended.

"That's Raf she's dancing with!" said Cameron." She's not seeing him. But I don't know if there is anyone else! Look, I didn't even know, that she existed outside of the hospital! Don't make things awkward for me, eh?"

Bernie laughed a lighthearted honk, and ruffled his hair. Her eyes drifted back to the dancers, to Serena's heeled black shoes, up her shapely calves, all along the form fitting dress, up her neck, and into her beautiful eyes that were staring right back at her from across the room.  
Feeling like a child caught stealing a candy,  
Bernie jumped up to get herself a glass of water from the kitchen, and cool down a little.

"Mum?" her son's voice called her back.

"Hm?"

"You knew that my Dr. Campbell was your ex, right? The Shiraz? You brought her favourite wine. You knew that you would meet her tonight?"

Bernie shrugged. "Recon is an essential part of a good defence."

"You googled her?

"Didn't need to. She's not the only one to keep track of her ex' path through life..."

Bernie helped herself to a glass of water, and let the cold water run over her wrists for a while too. When she turned off the tap, a low voice behind her made the hairs on her neck stand up.

"Towel's on your right."

She dried her hands before turning to face Serena, standing in the doorway.

"How have been, Bernie? It's been...what? Thirty years?"

"Thirty three." Bernie walked up to Serena.

"Thirty tree…" Serena wiped some glitter from Bernie's shoulder, then let her hand rest there. From the living room the dulcet tones of "Merry Christmas, Darling" played. 

"Cameron told me you are divorced." Serena looked up in Bernie's eyes.

"Hm."

"Are you involved with anyone? It's just that…" Serena pointed up, but her eyes never left Bernie's. "We're under the mistletoe, and it is a bad omen not to…" Her voice trailed off.

"Can't afford bad omens…" Bernie pulled her closer.

"No. That would be a shame…" Serena let her hand slide up the back of Bernie's neck, her fingers tangle in Bernie's hair, pulling her head closer, their mouths a mere inch apart. They stayed like that for a while, looking into each other's eyes for a sign, that this was what they both wanted. With a sigh Serena's resolve crumbled. She closed her eyes, and closed the last little distance between their lips.

"Excuse me." Jason's voice made them jump apart. "Sous chef coming through." He manoeuvred between them with a pile of plates, closely followed by Cameron carrying an empty bowl, and Ellie, carrying a tray full of glasses. "Oh, get a room, you two," she said, but it was not unfriendly.

"Are you kissing girls now, auntie Serena?" Jason asked.

"Jason, I mean: sous chef, can you go get the other plates from, the living room?" asked Ellie right away.

"Of course," and Jason disappeared.

"Uhm.., Bernie, help me put the trash out?" Serena pulled Bernie to the door to the back garden.

Bernie looked down at her socked feet, and shrugged. 

A pair of pink fluffy slippers were kicked her way. "Use mine," said Ellie, as she resolutely turned away from them and started to load the dishwasher.

A few moments later a pink slippered Bernie was pulled into the dark garden by Serena.

"They forgot to take the trash," Cameron said, leaning against the doorframe like a Wolfe cub.

"Yeah, obvs."

"So...is your mother seeing anyone?" he asked.

"Asking for a friend?"

"For a relative."

Ellie grinned. "See that guy over there, in the Rudolf jumper?" She walked up next to him, pointing at a man across from them in the room. "He's a policeman. I think he is even called Bobbie. He's been trying it for a while, but I doubt she is really into him. Which is good news. He's a dick. Your mother seems nice enough, though."

"She's alright."

"Hm. We might end up as relatives then. So…" She looked up at him, then pointed to the mistletoe above them. "It is entirely out of the question that I snog you tonight, then?"

"Entirely," he said. "I'm engaged to be married, to add insult to injury."

"Half of all marriages fail these days." She shrugged. 

"Wow. Thanks for the well wishes!" 

She shrugged again. "Whatever. Would you mind helping me with the dishwasher, ...bro?"

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas to Bitheflowers, and to everyone that has read this story!


End file.
